


Escapeful Deception

by Kameiko



Category: Original Work
Genre: Dark Comedy, Demons, Gen, Horror, Insecurity, Manipulation, Murder, Personal hell, Plot Twists, Psychological Horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:15:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27963638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kameiko/pseuds/Kameiko
Summary: What brings out a person's ridiculous fears? Use a triple-meaning curio: a sinister shop owner that sells cabinets.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 3
Collections: Holiday Horror 2020





	Escapeful Deception

**Author's Note:**

  * For [silverfoxflower](https://archiveofourown.org/users/silverfoxflower/gifts).



“You won’t regret your purchase and thank you for shopping at _Curio’s_!” He waves off the latest victim of purchase. Sighing in happiness he drops the fake smile after they leave, slamming the door behind him, flipping the open sign to close. “Stupid woman. Her kid is going to have a field day with that metal ball.”

He laughs to himself and shakes his head in another delightful fit, breathing in the air around him of the fresh souls he’s taken in. “Come on, baby. Scream for me as you fill your priceless stained cabinet full of figurines and silver plates.” He can hear the screams from the kid, talking about how his worse ridiculous fear is coming to life: their little toys will get dusty and rusty in their toy box due to them being in the dark. If they’re not displayed nice and pretty in direct sunlight, they can’t stay healthy and everyone knows what that means, come to life and murder everybody.

“That’s a good imagination sonny-boy here has. Plastic does need direct sunlight for the perfect melted omelet.” He takes a crystal glass out of one of the cabinets and blows his hot air on it, whistling innocently and humming a sweet tune. “Oh, pretty lady, pretty lady, what do you see? I see your eyes are starting to bleed.” He laughs at the reflection of another woman he sold another cabinet too that came with clear crystal glasses at a low five-figure digit discount. The catch? The woman had an irrational fear of all her wine turning into apple juice. She’s allergic to apple juice. What did the owner here do? He snuck a single drop of apple juice on the side pane, waved the stain off to her when she noticed, even windexed it for free.

She didn’t die if anyone is curious, much to his dismay. Only a hemorrhage in her left eye, no big deal. Next time he won’t clean the glass with a God like complex, and make sure the ridiculous worse fears come to reality of death. Just have to figure out how to get her to come back. Send out an e-mail of return said item immediately for defects? “That’s the beauty of a double meaning word. I sell curious unusual objects and glass curio bookcases. Huh. Funny how my shop works.” Cracking his neck he rubs his hands together and makes it to the back to assemble the latest curio that, unsurprisingly, came with a strange mirror with raven feathers attached to it.

“What in the Hell did the devil have me order for victims this time?” He pops it open to see all the parts to the case is made of mahogany wood. The mirror is black, stainless steel, and ugly as Hell. He touches the feathers; one crumbles under his fingertips. “Oh! Look what I’ve done. No one’s going to buy this junk even at half off.” He pulls out the instructions on assembly. “Written in Hellenese like last time. Yeah, yeah, I get it.”

He assembles all the pieces of Hell together and puts it out in front of the store with a special half-off sign. He stands back and sighs, hands on his hips with frustration. “I hope you sell tomorrow, buddy. Daddy needs to be able to feed off dumb human emotions tomorrow night.” He pats the side and goes to close up the register. Only stops when he hears whispering coming from behind him. He turns and squints at the mirror. He thinks he sees a crow cocking its head to the side, reading his eyes, almost like it’s judging him. He rolls his eyes and goes to throw a sheet over the glass. “Go back to Hell, Nevermore. I don’t have any fears worth exploiting.”

The raven in the mirror squawks again. Angry that its precious mirror has been disruptive. “Hey! Don’t look at me you stupid bird! Tell your boss to use bubble wrap when shipping via UPS next time! They’re not known for packing Satan’s goods with care!” The bird continues its noisy banter. He shakes his head and ignores the chatter and leaves after making the mirror face the opposite wall. Luckily, the case doesn’t weigh that much. Sadly, when he returns in the morning, he finds one of his customers from earlier in the week standing inside his shop, waving one of the cursed objects in his face. “Woah! Calm down there, man! That thing will kill me!”

“Good riddance!” His eyes turn to the mirror to see that the sheet has fallen off its pillar. The owner scratches the back of his head at that, and turns back to the customer, asking him how he even entered his store in the first place; and how long has he been staring into the mirror. “Long enough to know that you secretly fear of being a good person.”

The owner looks at him with a confused expression. “Excuse me? I don’t understand.” He backs away with his hands fidgeting in front of his body, gulping at the collar. He doesn’t fear smiles and rainbows. He’s a salesman of Hell, to Lucifer himself. Will be a cold day in the pit when he decides to be a Jesus lover and serve God and his angels. “You must be mistaken.”

“Dude, you reek of happy emoji’s that one would obsessively send to their girlfriend. How repulsive and cringy!” The customer pulls out a gray looking old dagger from inside his coat. “You deserve to have a smile carved on your face to remind yourself every day that you need to respect property that doesn’t belong to you.”

The owner glares at the mirror to see the raven perching on his shoulder. He glares at the said creature. “Fine. I’ll keep that in my mind for now on. Take your leave.”

“I don’t think so.” The customer moves the knife in between their fingers and with a simple swipe, two scars appear on the corner of his mouth, stretching down his neck, curving towards his heart. The cuts edge in deeper, cutting off his arteries. His heart starts beating rapidly, pumping against his chest with a force that its about to burst out. He clutches it and falls to the ground, blood dripping out of his mouth and eyes. He grunts and spits out through his teeth, “What did you do to me?”

“What’s the old saying? ‘A bleeding heart’? Congratulations, you now have sympathy and kindness.” The customer tisk's and pats the owner’s head. “Enjoy your worse fear and five times the growth.” The customer whistles innocently and gets the cash register ready as he now lays claim as the new owner.

The raven cocks in laughter, spreading a feathered wing through the mirror, making it attach itself to the piece on the mantle that’s missing the last piece, all the while pecking at the flesh of the reflective owner. 


End file.
